← Trap Talk From The Back Fence
Trap Talk From The Back Fence
Trap Talk | Sheri Rawe on Coaching, Culture, and Building a Winning College Program
01:02:05
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- [00:24]
A
Welcome to season four of Trap Talk.
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B
Brought to you by Craig off the choice of champions.
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A
Hello, TRAP Talk listeners. I'm your host, Zach Denini. I'm here with my co host, Richard Marshall Jr. And we've got a very special guest today, Sherry Ra from. From here in Missouri, Lynnwood coach Ricky. Would you mind introducing Sherry?
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B
Absolutely. She really don't need no introduction. Everybody in the shooting world knows Sherry. Of course, she's known as Anna's mom, but that's true.
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C
That's true.
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B
Sherry is from Festus, Missouri, so just south of St. Louis, St. Charles area. And she is the newly appointed Lindenwood head coach. So yeah, go Lions. Tyler's a freshman there going on his second semester. He passed first semester. We were happy here in the Marshall household, so he did good. And of course, Zach, you are a Linda Wood alumni. You know, we're not sure how you graduated except for them 100 bills you greased everybody with, but you know, I.
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A
Wish I had more of them back then, that's for sure.
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B
No, that. Just kidding. Zach actually did good in college. But so, yes, we got Sherry on the show, so we're gonna talk all things about shooting sports in college and. And her experience with Lindenwood and what she's got going on and all the students and just kind of a whirlwind of stuff going on with Lindenwood there. So welcome to the show.
- [01:52]
C
Thank you. There is a lot going on with Lindenwood for sure. They've had a couple coaching changes over the past few years. I landed here on December 5th. That was my official first day here. December 5th. Had orientation. Threw together a quick team meeting that afternoon because that was the last official day of class prior to finals week. And then the kids leaving first for holiday breaks, you know, it was a lot to try to get in. I spent those first four days, that whole weekend doing one on ones with the athletes, talking to them, getting to know all of them. Well, I knew a lot of their names and stuff. I didn't know them personally. A lot of the ATA kids I did, but the rest of them I didn't. And then, you know, they all took their finals and it was nothing but tail lights out of here because it's a college campus and that's what happens. So then I spent the next month just doing things. We did a little office overhaul here, went through, re redid some things there, you know, got on our nationals registrations, things like that. Tied up some loose ends and counted down the minutes till those kids got back here on Monday. Super excited.
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B
Nice.
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A
Well, Sherry, that, that is exciting. And I remember during the holiday season I wanted to get out there as quick as I could. So as soon as that freaking final was done, you were just on the road getting home, you know, home cooked meals, see your family. It is, it is one of those things where you're going to see a lot of tail lights out of there. But, you know, you just started this position, you know, rather rapidly. You know, how has that, that change been for you? I mean, just getting kind of into it really quickly. I mean, because it's been, I mean, we're coming up on, you know, almost two months now, but you've already made a lot of progress and a lot of changes. Kind of walk us through that, that journey and how you, how you got picked for the position.
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C
Well, I'm about five and a half weeks into the job, so. The last head coach here was coach Lauren Dunn, who some of you know is Lauren Mueller. Even her family owns Brittany Shooting park over in Bunker Hill, Illinois. Very accomplished shooter. Lauren is a 16, 17 time ATA all American herself. She knows what's up. She had been with Linden Wood for a year. She was the head coach here last year for the entire year. She started her year this year and you know, God blessed Lauren was an amazing opportunity. Very close to home at Blackburn University is where she has went to and she has been given the challenge of starting a program from the ground up there. And that's a phenomenal opportunity for Lauren. It's five blocks from her house. She was commuting an hour and 45 minutes each way to Lindenwood. So when those things came up for her and that opportunity came available, of course she had to take it, support her a great deal. Lauren is a good friend of mine and I wish her the very best over there at Blackburn. But that being said, her, her exit, which was not expected, suddenly left a huge gap to fill here at Lindenwood University. These athletes are top notch. We got the best of the best here. I firmly believe that we're two for two back to back on national championships the last two years in this program. Somebody had to pick up the ball and run with it immediately right then. And there were several applicants for that job. I was fortunate to be the one that came out on top after all the interviews and stuff. And we did just that. We hit the ground running. I got in there with the kids. We got down in the trenches and talked about all their concerns and issues and ideas and, you know, we just kind of put that all together and we restructured the team right out of the gate, did things a lot different. You know, prior to Lauren being here, Coach Mike Elam was here for a very long time. And so, so some of these kids have seen if they're a senior here, I'm effectively their third coach, kind of fourth if you count whenever Tom Ruck was here as a, as a hired assistant coach. So it's been a lot of changes for them and they've really rolled with it well and I'm really proud of them. But they had a lot of doubts. You know, they're like, okay, now what's going to happen? What's going to happen now? You know, first we had this and then he was gone, and now this one's gone. And now all of a sudden, Lauren's gone. So, you know, they're college kids, they're adults by definition, but they're kids at heart. And they were worried. They were worried, you know, what's going to happen to us? Where are we going to go with this? And I'll tell you what, the leadership of that team jumped in. They went a month without a coach, a month from Lauren's departure date to my higher date. And there were kids on that team, upperclassmen, that effectively stepped up and said, you know what, this is our team. If we got to run it, we're going to run it. We're going to get things done. And they did the best they could to hold it together until I got here. And now I have taken that pressure off of them and let them go back to being shooters. And we're just, we're working together as a really close knit family. This journey that we've been on together. We had a big team meeting yesterday, had almost perfect attendance, and it was awesome. There's a lot of laughter, a lot of joke and a lot of camaraderie, but at the end of the day, they're, they're putting in the work, man, they're on fire. So we're, we're going.
- [06:53]
B
Yeah, we're going well, and, and I know you, of course, I know a lot more than, than Zach does. Just because Tyler, you know, goes to Linda would now. So, you know, he's on the shooting team also. But I know you had talked about, you know, you made a major change in just being what is called one and getting rid of the gold team, the black team, the gray team, and just being one as a team. How was that accepted by all the kids?
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C
So that was, you know, my coaching style is very different. And I told these Kids right out of the gate, you know, and there was nothing wrong with Mike's coaching style. There's definitely nothing wrong with Lauren's coaching style. But we all have very different ways about going about things, and my coaching style is much different than either one of those. And, you know, historically, for all kinds of reasons, for financial reasons, for, you know, there's a myriad of them, and I won't get into all of that, but the team had been structured where there were three different levels per se. And while in theory, that can work for this group, it wasn't working. Okay. There was a lot of team, division. There was a lot of animosity between the team members. And I was really. When I first come in and the first thing I said at that team meeting was in the first 30 seconds, okay, gold team, black team, gray team, it's gone. We're one team. We adopted a new logo that minute. One team, one roar, one goal. Period. You know, and the look across the room at that moment, I was like, okay, either I win them over here or I lose them all here. You know, my tires are going to be flat when I leave. Right? And honestly, after the shock hit, the relief, the awe, the smiles started to emerge. And I will tell you right now, there's 56 kids on this roster, and 56 of them have wholly accepted now that they are one team to work together. And it is phenomenal to watch just already what is happening here. So.
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B
And that's awesome.
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C
It made such a big difference, you know. Yeah. Do I have some struggles now making that work out? Because when I say one team, that means everybody's going to Nationals. Does that? I mean, that's. That's a financial struggle. It is. We got some fundraising to do. We got some work to do, but it's going to happen. It's. It's. It's going to happen. These kids are really finally getting that team, family atmosphere that they were looking for, that they were craving, that they. That some of them. That some of them really need. They really need in their life. They need that out of this program, and they're getting it. And I'm telling you, by the time we hit the ground in San Antonio, nine weeks from now, you will not be able to stop.
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B
Yeah, well, that's the attitude to have, honestly. I mean, you know, Zach was on the. Zach, what. What championships did you win? Like, the eighth, ninth, tenth or something? Or ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth? What was it?
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A
Eighth, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, 12th. So five, four undergrad and. And then one in my master's degree with, with the, with the team. And you know, I, I, I love what, what Sherry's doing because we did have, we did have that, you know, black team, gold team. And you know, not to say, you know, anything bad about it, but it was clicky. You know, we, we definitely had our clicks and we had, you know, these kind of skeet shooters over here and these sporting clay shooters over here and these trap shooters over here. And then you were, you know, you've part of the all around team or, you know, gold versus black. And you know, some people were able to be on one or the other team and be able to mold and, you know, and give back and help and be a real good team member. And then some people were like, if they were on the lower team, they gave up or if they were on the higher team, they looked down, they looked down on the lower team. So it's like, you know, the higher team, if you're on the higher team, you shouldn't have to look down on the lower team and if you're on the lower team, you shouldn't feel defeated. But that, you know, that kind of happened. And I mean, now, you know, undertaking it at Its size now 56 is still A, you know, an amazing accomplishment. But I believe in the height of it, we were 115. Yeah, I mean, 115 or 120. I mean, we were at the pinnacle of, of the largest teams, were right in, right in my tenure there. We were big.
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C
Yes.
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A
And, and it was, you know, it was, logistically, we were taking 50 or 60 people to nationals still, you know, it was, it was a, you know, it was a big ordeal and you know, but you know, I, I can, I, I can fully support that, that one, one roar, one goal, you know, one team mentality. Because the most important thing that I can tell you that helped us win was the camaraderie and the relationships on the team. You know, the abilities were there. But whenever we started to struggle, it was when we were going at each other's heads where it was like, okay, you know, we'd have an idea or, you know, you know, a concept would come down from the coach, this is what we're going to do. And half the people would love it, half the people would hate it, and, and you divide and it would be like a division deal. And that, you know, that was difficult and that, that cost us probably in a lot of areas where we should have been more united.
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C
Yeah, and I absolutely agree, Zach, and I appreciate you sharing that, you know, from an alumni perspective, looking back on it now, that you still saw all those things that me coming in from the outside and being around this program a little bit over the past several years and identifying those exact same things. And at the end of the day, every kid on this team is the value, every single one of them. You know, my own daughter is on this team. She's a trap shooter. Anna shoots trap. She's only going to compete two events at National. She competed two events last year. She's going to do trap singles, trap doubles. That's it. On any given day, she can run both of them out clean. Perfect. You know, we've got some kids here. I mean, we've got the most incredible talent here. I mean, we really do. When you just look at bare numbers, just let's look at the numbers. We've got pro class and master class sporting clay shooters here. We've got the world championship ski shooter here. Rocky Romo just clinched that title.
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B
That's right.
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C
We just won the 12 gauge. Just one just won 12 gauge. You know, this past fall, we have got literally the best of the best. I've got some shooters here that can shoot every discipline that can come out on top. We've got, I don't know how many. All American ata. All Americans, I haven't counted them, but there's a lot. We've got ATL Americans here with grand rings on their. So we've got the talent. We don't lack the talent to go down there and take control. We don't. But there's other kids on this team that are so very important because they're the uppers, they're the cheer. They're the ones. A little girl on this team, her name's Mackenzie Massey, she's grad student here. This little girl got so excited, she cried when she found out she was going to get to go to Nationals. I mean, she's that little girl all the time. That's yay. You know, every. It's infectious. It is infectious. You get around this young woman, you can't not smile. You cannot, you physically cannot have a bad day around this young lady. This team needs that. We need those people. We need those kids that never stop working that have the passion because they drive the ones that get burnt out. So 56 people, 56 personalities, 56 very distinct reasons to go to St. Antonio.
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A
You know, Rick, the only thing looks better than these hats we're wearing right now is a bunch of gold and silver from Ron Prescott at Mid State Precious Metal. Show them the goods.
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B
Listen, oh, I got silver right now. I won't bring the gold out for.
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A
Zach but you know I always want to get that.
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B
Gold shotgun shells, 10 ounces bars. Folks, he could do anything for you. For all your shoot needs, give Ron Prescott a call. Midstate precious metals.com He's a great guy.
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A
Support him. He supports all the shoots. He supports sports trap Talk. If you're thinking gold or silver, you need to be thinking Ron Prescott at Midstate Precious Metals. Thank you, Ron.
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B
That's right. Thanks for all the support.
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A
You know Rick, when you're riding around your air conditioning and your nice can am and I'm walking, I'm thinking to myself, where do I get one of these things?
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B
At Big Red Motorsports, that's where you get one. George or Jason Lee, they'll take care of you, Zach.
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A
I mean I need one. I'm tired of riding on the back of that cooler. I want to sit inside that cab and roll around in style. I mean my face is on the back, but help me out.
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B
Listen, I'm going to move your face to the bumper is where it's going to get moved for the new one, okay? All you need is a little quiche and we can take care of you. But listen, Big RedMotorsports.com thanks Jason and George Lee and Big Red Motorsports for all the support. They'll take care of you folks. And it's free delivery.
- [15:52]
A
You know, Rick, I was at the Autumn grand and the Nevada state shoot and I was just really impressed with how I could see where my squad was when I was up. Just the technology, the ability to be able to see what options I've played if the event's paid or not. I mean, what's your experience with, with the app?
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B
Listen, SOS Clay's app. It's the best thing out there, folks. You can see everything. It's great. You see your option payouts. You can see when you're up, you can see who's paid on your squad. Sometimes Zach doesn't pay on time, but.
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A
It'S I get out there. But what I really think is, is for gun clubs it's free. Call Greg, get a hold of him. He'll set you up, he'll get you running. Right. And if you pay the premium once a year you get free pre squatting in all the shoots. And that's the best value in trap shoot.
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B
Absolutely. SOS clays dot com. Yeah, well, and speaking of that, you know, you got 56 kids and like you said, you have some all Americans. You have some world champions, some, you know, national champions in all disciplines.
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C
Yes.
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B
Okay. And the one thing is. Is. Is, you know, of course, I was a college coach there for 10 years at Doane, and. And I had kids. I didn't have as big a steam as you do. But even some of my lower shooters, when you paired them up with some of the others, the personalities mended, and they both shot even better.
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C
Yes.
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B
And that's one thing that people don't realize is it's not always about taking. Oh, I got to take my top.
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A
10, and that's it.
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B
You need to take your. Your shooters, because if you take in everybody one, it's all that promotion out there, all that Lindenwood everywhere. Okay? And, you know, for everybody to see, number one. Number two is you're gonna give these kids an opportunity. And all it takes is, as you know, Sherry, I mean, you've been in the shooting world a long time, you know, and. And like Zach and like myself, is, you take a kid on any given day, it could be his day.
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C
You bet. You never know. I always say, there's that one day that the clay gods just shine right on you. And you don't know when that's going to be. I mean, you may never have. We took a young man from California. His name is Lucas Corseli, sporting clay shooter. His sister's a sporting clay phenom. They're both on my roster. Wonderful kids. This past fall, at the very last minute, an opening came at the Missouri Fall Handicap, a trap shoot, you know, this fall, where a young lady wasn't going to be able to be there. And Lucas stepped up and called Coach Dunn, who was the coach at the time, and said, hey, she's not going to be there. I'd like the opportunity to try shoot a little trap, if you don't mind. Or he came on down to the lake, you know, Lynn Creek's only a couple hours from here. Lucas came down and shot a registered ATA target since 2022. I mean, he had to pay his ATA dues to register to go out and shoot that day. Kid ran his first 100, just walked out. Boom. Ran his hunter, backed it with a 99.199sporting clay shooter. How often do you see that happen? Doesn't matter. It happened for Lucas Corselli that day. Now, that same thing could happen to any one of these kids. When we get to San Antonio, we don't know. We don't know the answer to that.
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A
So I'm still waiting for my day of sunshine. But I know it's coming.
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C
Well, well, we'll keep praying for that, Zach.
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B
We'll be praying for you, Zach.
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A
One day those clouds are going to open up, and it's going to be my day.
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B
I want those clouds to open up, Zach. Bad things happen to you with them clouds.
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A
Damn. Damn. I'm trying here. One day, you know, one day we'll get there. But. But it's so true. You got, you. You don't know when you're gonna have your day. And, And I've seen people that are the best of the best consistently get to the big day and, you know, crap. And I've seen people that. You were like the underdog, the guy that's never won, that's never done anything kind of like the Rudy, and he goes out there and he just slaps 100 down on him. You're like, oh, my God, Rudy did it. And, you know, then you're getting chicken strips for everybody. It's a good deal. But, but, but it's, it's, it's. It's fun and it's camaraderie and it's team building, and it's an experience that will transcend most things that they do in their life. And in the time that you're there, they don't realize how quick it's going to go, and they don't realize how impactful it's going to be on their life, how much they can actually really take from that experience and learn from it and build the foundations of their future and their relationships off of this program. I mean, it's. It's. It's. It's incredible.
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C
And you're. You're a good example of that, Zach. I'm going to. You know, I see you all over the country, all over the place in the summertime and throughout the year at ATA shoots and stuff. And quite often we see you with zb, with Zach Bryant, who undoubtedly one of your best friends, and I'm assuming that friendship probably started right here on Lindenwood's campus, did it?
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A
Not a hundred percent. And. And many others. I mean, it's many other people. I can't tell you the. The amount of connections in my life if I was to actually go through and write down the people that I meet or do business with or hang out with or whatever, tie it back to the people that I met. Like that. The tree, if you will, when you're kind of building out those olive branches, like, it's. This person introduced me to. This person introduced me to this person introduced me to this person. And it was all flowing from that same thing. And that team, you know, of 110, 115 people, you know, I mean, we were really close with probably 60 of them. 60, 70 of them. I mean, you know, you can't be really close friends with all of them, obviously, at that size, because, you know, everybody's at different level, does different things. But, I mean, even to this day, you know, we still see each other and still talk to each other and still message each other consistently. And it.
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C
Right. It's.
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A
It's huge. It's huge to have those type of lasting relationships in your life forever. And these people know they're there for you when you need them.
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C
It really is.
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A
That's. That's.
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C
It's a big thing. And there's. There's a couple things, and I. There's one line that I have told every kid I've ever coached over the past decade and in all the different shooting sports, and it's so very important to me, and I. I've started this team the same way, and that is never focus so hard on the prize that you forget to enjoy the journey, because that's where it's at. That's where your win is. The winner. That ring, that stuff to show your kids and your grandkids, that's awesome. But don't forget the journey. Enjoy every single step of the journey. The hard days, the good days, the bad days. You can't focus so hard on that prize that you let that go. And if. If I can get that through to these 56 kids and they go out of here with nothing else but remembering that, then I've succeeded. Yeah.
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B
No, you are correct on that, Sherry. That's. That's a very good saying, you know, because it is. You know, we just went through several storage bins at my house of trophies, and. And Jody kind of, you know, I've been on a long journey with. With shooting, and it is. It's. It's.
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A
You know, I.
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B
And people always. Tyler gives me crap. Of course. You deal with him every day. Thank goodness I don't.
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C
Yeah, thanks.
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B
I see him a month, and then he's gone.
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A
Yeah, he's your problem now.
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B
So. But, you know, he. He even said it. He goes, dad, you have so many stories, right? Trey said it for him. You have so many stories. And I'm like. And people. Some people make fun of it, and it's all fine. I. You know, I got thick skin. But I do, because I've been doing this such a long time.
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C
And.
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B
And Zach can tell you the same thing. We have so many stories that we could talk about now. We have some stories we may be able to talk about later, and then there's stories for trap talk after dark, you know.
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C
Right, right.
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A
But none of those.
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B
But yeah, it is. And it's one of the things that you're going to take with you.
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A
And.
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B
And that's what. And I told Tyler that when he left to go to Lindenwood, and, you know, I said, son, have fun.
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C
Yes.
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B
You got to enjoy it. Enjoy the college experience. And that's why I'm actually taking a little bit back and. And might miss a few shoots here and there to come to college events for Tyler, because he only is going to do it once.
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A
And you know, it hurts my heart to hear that, Ricky, but we support your journey in going and doing that as much as possible.
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B
I'm gonna pay a bounty on Zach. Anybody that beats him in a shoot off is gonna get a free case of shells.
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A
I think I got bounties, folks. See, I'm.
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C
I'm.
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A
I'm stimulating trap shooting, and I don't even know it. That's.
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B
But there's no chopping allowed.
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C
No.
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A
No chopsies. I might. I might say, hey, give me five boxes and I'll lay down.
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C
That's. That's rough. That's rough right there, Zach.
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A
So I do want to. I do want to bring something up that you said, Sherry, because, you know, I was getting chills kind of thinking about it when you talked about the journey and the championships not mattering and mattering as much and more that the. The people and. And the process and looking back at my life now, if I could take the five rings that I won and give them back and go do it again, I wouldn't. Second, like the, The.
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C
The.
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B
The. The.
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A
The enjoyment. I did not know other than eating ramen noodles and being broke was the.
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B
It was the.
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A
It was the greatest time of my life. I mean, and what I did not understand at the time is how far I could make $25 stretch. I mean, you would. I mean, we were.
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C
We.
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A
We were working it and. And, hey, man, you know, and it was a bunch of us all working it together at the same. The same journey and the same goal. But, Zach, I was at your.
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B
I was at your house at Lindenwood, if you don't recall. Remember when Zach used to go teach with me at the. The Four Aces down in. What town was that?
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A
In Mulberry Grove.
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C
Mulberry Grove.
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A
The Mulberry Group Four Aces.
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B
We'd go down there and. And they'd bring me down. And I brought Zach along to help out. And then I turned that deal, and I went to his house one time, him and ZB and. Who else lived there? Scotty Lamone.
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A
We had Scotty in there. We had Blake in there. We had Ryan Smith.
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B
Already said, rick, you want to sit down? I said, well, I just walked through a half inch of orange juice in the kitchen. I'm good with standing against the wall.
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A
Yeah, we. We had a campus house at the time, and at any given time, when you walked through the kitchen, your feet were sticking to the ground. It was kind of like, you know, the. That sticky glue traps.
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C
We're gonna pretend that was orange juice because I don't want to have this discussion.
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B
It was orange ju. Scary. It was.
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A
It was definitely orange juice because we needed that vitamin C to just fight off all the things that we had in our bodies. So we were, you know, we could have had an orange juice drip. I'm telling you at the time, if we. If we would have heard of those I.V. therapy treatments.
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C
Oh, right.
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A
We'd have been real big candidates for that.
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C
Yeah. My son lives in a campus house here for a few years. I. I'm good. I'm good. We'd always help him move in, but even that was on his own.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Now, Sherry, let's back up. So you have coached archery, air rifle. Correct.
- [27:01]
C
Pistol and rifle for how many years.
- [27:03]
B
Have you done both of those?
- [27:04]
C
I've been coaching for about a decade. Yeah.
- [27:06]
B
Okay. And then, you know. I know. Of course, you know, Anna's been shooting what now?
- [27:11]
C
Going on six years. Yeah.
- [27:13]
A
Well, going on six years.
- [27:14]
C
Shotgun. Ata. Shotgun for six years. Yeah.
- [27:17]
B
Her for six years.
- [27:19]
C
History started with pistol and rifle, and she was into that for about three years, and then she was very good at it. But, you know, when you're shooting steel plate challenge and you already win nationals, you win all these accolades, all you can do is win them faster. There's nothing. Nothing changes there. So at the time, a young lady that was on the pistol rifle team with her name is Bailey Leaders. She's now an alumni of the Lindenwood Shotgun sports program. She's few years older than Anna. Was a fabulous mentor for her at that time. She was shooting trap, and she's like, anna, you need to come try this. The targets move. It's really cool. And I've been broke ever since.
- [27:58]
B
He's been looking for a fourth job.
- [28:00]
C
That's true. That's true story. So I always Tease. Speaking of ramen noodles, that every time when I leave the grand, I stop and do a balance inquiry on my debit card, and it prints me a coupon for ramen noodles, because that's how broke I am at that moment in my life.
- [28:13]
A
So at least you have the. At least you had that coupon. I mean, we died for one of them.
- [28:18]
C
Right? Right, Right. Yeah.
- [28:19]
B
Zach would have bought that coupon. Jerry.
- [28:21]
A
I just said, hey, I'll get that together. I need me. That.
- [28:25]
C
Me.
- [28:25]
A
Throw an egg in that, and it's like you're at a hibachi restaurant. I mean, you're living good if you had an egg.
- [28:30]
C
Now they have these ramen noodle restaurants where that's all it is. It's literally a bowl of ramen. You pay, like, 15 bucks for it. So, Zach, you could be on something.
- [28:37]
A
That's because. That's because there were so many people that were psychologically culted into ramen noodles because of the brokenness, and now they come back and they kind of want it.
- [28:46]
B
I'm surprised you don't own interest in one of those.
- [28:48]
C
Yeah, right. I can see.
- [28:50]
A
I. I've got NDAs. I'm not saying anything about my ramen noodle collection, but it's a good business model. I mean, you take 2 cents of noodles, throw an egg on it, charge 15 bucks. I mean, come on, man.
- [29:04]
C
This is somebody. Some college kids doing it right.
- [29:07]
A
They're doing it right. And, you know, I. I love what you're doing with the program. I think, you know, you. You mentioned earlier, you mentioned, you know, having fun and being a team. And. And I will say the. The people that were really successful either in college or after college had a lot of fun, but they focused on the goals at hand first.
- [29:29]
C
That's right.
- [29:29]
A
So if there's any. Any teammates, you know, or any future college kids listening to this episode, I can tell you right now from personal experience, if you want to ask me how much fun I had in college, I will say I had a great time. But the one. The one thing that I can. That I can bring out is we were very dedicated on what we were trying to achieve.
- [29:51]
C
Yes.
- [29:51]
A
Whether it was winning a national championship or whether it was winning, you know, at the other levels of the other shoots that we did at acu I. And also the grades, because at the time, you know, and it didn't seem like a big number at the time, but we had a. I think it was a 2.5 minimum on the team. You had to at least have that And. And there was a lot of people that were so interested in the college experience and so interested in being on the team that they forgot the reason they were there in the first place. And that's to go to class and learn how to, like, the education side of it. Right. So. So we had a lot of people that didn't make the team, not because of their inability to shoot, but because of their inability to show up to class. And I would tell you that the guys that really were great with the team, they focused on that schoolwork first. Because if you were able to make good relationships with your professors.
- [30:44]
C
Yes.
- [30:45]
A
You were able to work ahead. Work ahead on the SIL syllabus. I know, you know, me, Zach and a few other guys would get the syllabuses early in the season, and we would study ahead and get that stuff knocked out as much as humanly possible so that when we went into the shooting season, we weren't, you know, bringing all that stuff with us at acy's. I mean, and the people that shot the best got that stuff done so that they weren't trying to do quizzes and exams during, you know, this shoot. Like, get it. Get it done out in front. And that's. That's probably the best advice I could give anyone there is. You're there to learn first, and then you're there to experience as much as college has to deliver. But if you work ahead, you don't have to rush and you don't have to worry and you don't have to be under the clock. And I think under the clock for college students seems to be a trend. I see that a lot because you go from not having you, having, like, you know, a fully laid out life of people watching you, and then, boom, you're free. And now you're like, oh, well, I'm gonna do this and this and this and. And. And it's. It's a juggling act. It's a responsibility.
- [31:54]
C
And being a student. Student comes first. Student athlete. It's even in the title. I don't know why that's confusing to some people, but it is. And, you know, that's big for me, I gotta tell you. And this is me as a coach to the core. And any athlete I've ever coached, be it archery or air rifle or whatever, be it. I have always been known for that coach that expects more. Like, even whenever I was coaching high school kids, junior high school kids, you know, I set the standard for their grades. Had to be a certain level. They couldn't have anything below a C, they couldn't have any missing assignments. You have a missing assignment. If you shot archery from me, you're benched. You're done. You don't shoot till it's over. You come to practice. You sit there and do your homework. So when you get to the college level, like you said, Zach, and I'm glad you brought that up. You know, kids come out of high school, and they. They do have people holding them accountable every day, every minute of every day. Teachers taking attendance, teachers doing this, teacher's doing that. And then they get to college, and all of a sudden, you know, maybe they're the first kid in college, maybe they're the youngest, maybe they're the only child, but they have all this freedom, and all of a sudden they're like, whoa. You mean they're not going to call my mom and dad if I don't show up in class or. All these things happen, and it's so easy, so easy to skip one or two classes. And now the slide has started, and once you get in that pattern, it's really hard to break out of it, you know, and it's at Lindenwood University, I will tell you, and I'm talking as a parent, because my own. My oldest son graduated from here. Anna's here now. My niece went here. At Lindenwood University, if you show up to class, you are going to be successful. This university has very small class sizes. They have tutors accessible. You know, our whole world changed with COVID Admittedly, you know, big businesses. Big businesses don't use brick and mortar buildings anymore. The educational system changed, too. So much is online. Everything's available online. Zach, you talked about your syllabus. Now the kids have the syllabus. They have it in canvas. They can work ahead and go ahead and turn those assignments in. There's no guesswork. If you have a good relationship with your professors, if you just go to class, if you pop in in their office hours and say, hey, just wanted to introduce myself, Then you decide you want to go to a shoot on your own. Maybe the team's not going, but it's really important to you, then it's real easy for those professors to go, yeah, go ahead and go. It's fine. Just keep up while you're gone. You know, the support here. The support here is incredible. I've never seen anything like it from the administration, from the professors for these athletes is incredible.
- [34:22]
A
Well, and the one thing they gave us, they said, you know, lu for life. And it really was because the professors that we had at the time. I mean I remember having professors that were judges, professors that were, you know, and I was in the business school obviously. And for me, having people that had hands on experiences owning businesses, operating companies, sitting on boards, you know, in political influence, in the, in the environment, even locally. Roger Ellis was one that I can remember off the top of my head. I mean he was a big time attorney in the area and just really, really good folks that I'm like, okay, these guys have done it and you could ask them. And I think the good thing that came out of COVID was teaching everyone that we could make things happen without having to go somewhere. The bad thing out of COVID in my opinion is that it set an expectation that people don't have to be present anymore. And I think that what's going to happen moving, moving forward is we have to get back to an environment where we're in a group think environment. And some of the best classes that I had were classes where we were working in groups of two to four on projects or. Because in the real world when you go get on a project, you have to deal with the four people that you're assigned. And in a four person group you might have one person that does a great job, one person that kind of listens, one person that doesn't, and one person that doesn't do crap. But you've got to figure out how to get that a one way or the other. And you, and you've got to be, you know, you've got to make that work. And that's, that's the real world. That's not, you know, that's not different than any environment that these kids are going to come into later.
- [36:02]
C
Right.
- [36:02]
A
And I think Linenwood is a fantastic environment. I can't say enough good things about the school and the program. I went, it's a great campus. They've got, you know, they've got everything you could need to succeed if you put the effort in, if you show up and if you do those little extra things and I, I, I, I mean everybody's gonna say, oh, you're a nerd or whatever. But I always used to sit in the front or the front row or the second of the front row just so that I could get the attention of the professor and learn, you know, them and, and what they were teaching.
- [36:33]
B
You were just scouting them out, checking out what they're wearing. I'll get this guy a pair of shoes, he'll give me an A.
- [36:39]
C
Well, and there's bourbon.
- [36:40]
A
Bourbon was Bourbon was the trick. As a coach, you know, Rick, I just love having the peace of mind and knowing that if I'm traveling or I'm flying, something happens. I can get my winning and my Craig off replaced quickly and easily without costing me a bunch of money.
- [36:52]
B
Yeah, exactly. The gun and trophy insurance, it's the best out there to ensure your guns, sure. Your trophy, animals, everything.
- [36:59]
A
Thank you to the whole Cushman family for supporting the show and everything they do for trap shooting.
- [37:03]
B
Absolutely. Get a hold of Cole Cushman and he'll get you set up.
- [37:06]
A
You know, Rick, I, I, I know you had a lot of involvement with them since the beginning, since they started. But I really love the way that the shot tracker, you know, catches the doubles from shot to shot with the looping. You know, tell the folks what they need to know about that system.
- [37:18]
B
It's the best system out there. It's like having a coach on the end of your barrel, like we say, but going especially in double from first shot to second shot. You can see it on the graph. You can see it on video.
- [37:28]
A
Yeah, I mean, if you talk about that J Hook with Sean, Holly and all them, I mean, it'll literally really show that loop and I think that's really powerful if you're doing it. They've supported the show since the beginning. They love trap shooting. They're great people. Give them a shot, folks. They make a great product.
- [37:41]
B
Take Aim Technologies.
- [37:43]
A
Hey, Rick, we got to take a second. We got to thank Outlaw Engineering and the Preston family for supporting trap shooting and supporting Trap Talk podcast. They've been here for us. They're great people, you know. You know them real well, Rick.
- [37:53]
B
Yeah, I've known Randy since 1988. R2 and the family, they're great supporter of the show. Coop just won the Autumn grand handicap championship with a 97.
- [38:03]
A
I know, I was there. I got to interview him. It was great. I was so proud of him. He's doing a great job. Hashtag, where's Coop? He's somewhere with that big buckle. He's having fun. So that's you need anything engineering related, get a hold of Outlaw. They'll take great care of you.
- [38:17]
B
Great folks. Thanks for all the support, Outlaw. Hey, Zach, have you been out to 73 Pointers Ranch lately?
- [38:22]
A
You know I have out of Rick and Carla Burke have been great. I normally hunt pheasants and chucker down there, but now they got a brand new sporting clays facility and it is topnotch. I shot it the other day. Absolutely loved it. And if you guys haven't, you need to go give it a check out.
- [38:37]
B
We'll all have to come out and do a little hunting and we'll shoot.
- [38:39]
A
Some sporty clays, then 45 minutes from St. Louis Airport, come see it. If you haven't, guys, check them out.
- [38:44]
C
I have to say that, you know, I have access to a lot of really cool things, which is one of the first things I asked for when I got here. And even during my interview process, the university asked. Right now the university rule is a 2.0, and I have already asked. I want to make that. I want that back to 2.5 for my program. So next year's incoming freshmen are going to be held to that standard and we'll build back in because it wouldn't be fair for me to go in now and retro it for people that are already juniors and seniors. But there's this wonderful little program that I have, it's called Dropout Detective. And it lets me see all of my kids. It lets me see all of their classes where they're sliding, are they struggling somewhere. And I can see, you know, when their grades start to go down or if their attendance is a little off. And I can go in and I can make notes in this system, you know, hey, professors, so and so's grandmother just passed last week. We're having a little struggle, you know, try to stay engaged with her. And I can also read all the professors comments where they're talking back and forth to each other about this student, you know, going, hey, you know, little Sally wasn't in class these two days. And this is what I found out as to why. And that just shows you the kind of network that this university has, the support that they're building underneath those students. The kids don't even know.
- [39:59]
A
Well, they care.
- [40:00]
C
Kids don't even realize this is all going on. But you have professors and coaches communicating and talking with each other to make sure these kids don't slip through the cracks. All we have to do as educators and role models and coaches is get in there and take advantage of that. So I mean, that's huge for me. I am, I am all over that.
- [40:19]
A
Yeah, it's important to look at the team and say, you know, not only are they excellent on the line, but they're excellent off the line because everybody can notice the good shooters. But you know, academically, I mean, think of how good that looks for their future. To know that, okay, if you were on the line and Wishaka team, you at least had to carry this amount of GPA to be on that team and participate. Employers are looking at that, they're looking at extracurricular activities, they're looking at what you're doing and how you're blending well with others. And I think from a, from a leadership standpoint, if you do get into the, I don't know if you're still doing it, but we have like the captain positions and things like that. It teaches you kind of how to manage and how to deal with all these issues that come up in real life. I mean, it's.
- [41:09]
C
Well, and that's the other thing about having a close knit team. You know, if I look at my roster and I look across the board, I have kids of all ages just about majoring in every potential major that is here. You know, we have the kids that are good in math, we have the ones that are good in English. The one. And they've, you know, the upperclassmen have had these professors that these kids have, they help each other because they know, they know what's going on. You know, if I have a kid come to me and say, you know, hey, I am really, really struggling with my math, I need some help, I'm gonna, you know, hey, Ben Warwick, come here, help your teammate. And Ben, Ben's gonna be right there, he's gonna do that. You know, I got somebody that's struggling with something else, you know, maybe Dylan Bowman that I call. If somebody struggles with English, Anna's gonna be in here helping them and they're gonna get through it together. And that is, that's what the team is for.
- [42:00]
B
That honestly, in, in the athletics, you know. You know, and I used to tell my kids the same thing. That's why, Sherry, I agree with the whole, you're a student first, athletics are second, and then everything else comes third.
- [42:13]
C
That's it.
- [42:14]
B
And that's what they got to realize it. And they'll make a, have a great college career and can be very successful, but you have to stay engaged. If you're not engaged, then your success level drops down. You know, so now we talked about the athletics and you know, academics and stuff. What are you doing different? I mean, coaching wise, I know you got, you got anybody helping you.
- [42:38]
C
Okay, so coach, that's a great question. And I, you know, I've had a lot of people, they look at our program and all they see, especially people when you're looking at recruits coming in and the kids that are already here, you know, they look and they see this dynasty program, they see all these wins, they See all these championship titles and now, you know, when, when Coach Dunn was here, you know, she, she had the, the credentials and, and creds behind her name as a championship shooter that nobody asked those questions. Well, I come in, you can search the ATA for me. I've got an ATA number, but so does Felipe Marshall. Doesn't mean I have any stats up there. Okay. So I know as a coach, I know what my shortcomings are and I know how to fix that. Okay. And can I take my lower level shooters and coach them up? Yes, I can. Can I take my world championship and offer them anything on the field other than the mental aspect and stuff? No, I can't. And I know that and I'm willing to admit that. So a gentleman that was here in the past named Tom Ruck, who I think is one of the most fantastic human beings on the planet. Tom Ruck is a sporting place phenom. He's a former Olympian. He's fabulous at skeet as well. Tom is back with us.
- [43:46]
B
International Skeet.
- [43:47]
C
Very well done, Tom back with us. The man's incredible. The kids love him. He's got such a way with them. So he's back with us every practice from now until San Antonio and hopefully going further because he's an asset that, you know, just remarkable. He. My daughter's only had two coaches, two real coaches in her entire life. He was the first one. Rick obviously was the second. Rick, I'm bringing you in. You're going to be here with us for part of a week in February. You're going to be with us in San Antonio. So, you know, if I got kids that are lacking on their trap game, trap doubles, trap doubles, really, really important to our team for a lot of strategic reasons that I won't get into for the public. But, you know, if I need my kids coached up in trap doubles, I'm going to call the best. So Rick's coming in to take care of that. So we have the coaches coming in and we have the coaches here to take care of anything and everything we could possibly need. And I couldn't be, I, you know, I couldn't be more excited about that. We're lacking nothing, guys. We're lacking nothing in this program other than a few big donors. And I'll be glad to leave my phone number if anybody wants to get in. I'll gladly send you a great T shirt and a nice hat if you send us a little donation.
- [44:55]
B
But listen, I'm sure, I'm sure Team Nanini will help you Out, Sherry, he can donate. I mean, he's alumni.
- [45:01]
A
I mean, you know, I mean, I got a couple bags of ruffles for you guys or something like that. Maybe some of them ramen. I mean, I hit the Costco Ramens for the kids.
- [45:09]
C
Turning nothing down. Bring it on in. We're.
- [45:12]
A
I'm here to help. I mean, I believe in giving back. You know, you got to do this stuff.
- [45:16]
C
Any of them Angus beef ramen. Bring them. Them's up to 33 cents a pack.
- [45:20]
B
Yeah.
- [45:20]
A
No, no, no Angus. We're not even getting pasture fed eggs. We're getting. We're getting them caged. Caged chicken, you know.
- [45:27]
B
So, Sherry, are you doing any shoots at all? Are you going to host a shoot possibly in the future to do fundraising?
- [45:35]
C
I'll tell you what. And Rick, to be honest with you, in the past Lindenwood has held what was called the LU Open. And they used to do one in the fall and they would do one in the spring. Those shoots haven't really happened in the last couple of couple years. And there's, you know, multiple reasons. I don't really know what they are exactly. I know a lot of it has to do with timing in the calendar and whatnot. I just sat and talked with the team about this, my captain board on Monday night. We thought about doing an LU Open in the spring. I honestly, the timing, I think, is bad with me coming in the middle of the year like I did. I don't think we're going to see anything like that till next fall. By the time we get back from Nationals, you know, we're into April. We're going to be into the end of April. By then, you're not going to have a lot of college programs still shooting. Your high school. High school kids are wrapped up in graduations and things like that at the time. And I just have to look, I'm not going to. I can't waste the resources of my kids availability and then come out awash or very little profit off of it. Those things are meant to be fundraisers, so we probably. Honestly, I'm too late to the party this year. I just am. When I started, I've got nine weeks. We've got nine weeks to get this team on the ground in San Antonio to win number 19. So for the next nine weeks, our focus is just that, you know, we've got. We've got ACU regionals the last weekend of February, which will give us a good overall idea of what we're going to look at. Just a few Weeks before San Antonio. I do have some sporting place, kids going down to the Jack Links cup in March, but other than that, this spring, we are. We're hell bent on number 19, man.
- [47:15]
A
And I think that's probably the right attitude to have. You've got such a tight window. You're coming into this. You know, you could. You could say there's 15 different things you need to focus your energy on, but the only one that really matters is the national championship. I mean, at the end of the day, that's. That's the goal. And the more of those you could secure, the more people are going to want to be a part of the program and the more people are going to want to donate. So I don't want to gloss over the fact that you, you know, we talked about donation. You know, walk us through with the team right now. You know, is it funded by the university, end donors? Is it all donors? Is it like, what's that mixture? And how do you guys make this work? Sure.
- [47:54]
C
We're very fortunate. This, we are a very blessed program compared to, you know, there's a lot of universities and colleges across the country that have shotgun sports teams, but they're clubs, they're club teams. They're not fully funded varsity level sports for the university at Lindenwood. We are a fully recognized sport. And with that comes a budget. Now, is that budget enough to run wild and do lavish things and stuff? No, absolutely not. But it is. It's enough to make a good, solid foundation for this program. Do we have to do fundraising? Yes, we do have to do fundraising. We do rely on donors. We have a midway endowment account, you know, like most of the shooting sports world has. That's a big help. But we go back to our alumni, we go back to donors in the community, and, you know, we do raise a lot of money. We raise a lot of money to keep this going. But in fairness, so does every other team on this campus. The hockey team, the football team, the cheer team. We all do it. You know, we all have to. We got to put a little skin in the game, so to speak. We got to be out there and we got to be working it, too. And that's another reason why the passion that shines through these kids is so important. A donor doesn't want to say, well, you know, hey, maybe I'll. I'll donate $10,000, but I'd like to come to a practice and see what the kids are up to. You know, if you see those kids out there and they're thoroughly Enjoying themselves. And they have that passion and that light shining bright for their sport. Then you're going to attract those donors, you know, so, yeah, we're kind of a little combination of everything. I got the kids starting a fundraiser right now. Do I like kids doing fundraisers when we're ready for nationals? I mean, hey, it's not going to hurt them any, by any means. So they're all starting a fundraiser where they're going to be responsible for bringing a little money in. You know, they're. These trips are expensive. You guys know, after Covid, the cost of shooting is exorbitant. The entry fees are going up everywhere. Ammo is expensive. The price of targets is going up everywhere. You know, we've got to. We got to do what we got to do to make it happen. And that's. So, yeah, the short answer is we do look for donors and we do fundraising and all that fun stuff.
- [50:04]
A
So on the structure, and I don't remember how this was when I was there, but are you 501c3? I mean, can they get a tax deduction if they donate to the team or what's. What's that look?
- [50:14]
C
Absolutely. We have an amazing booster club. And, Zach, I don't think this organization was here when you were here. I think it was. If I'm not mistaken, it formed around 2016, 2017. The actual 501C3 legal name for it is the Pride for Lindenwood Shotgun Sports, referencing to the Lion Pride, you know, and it's a fantastic organization. It's run by parents. They have a full board of directors, president, you know, all that, and then they're board members that make all the decisions. And they are a 501C3. Their sole purpose, the only reason they exist, is to lend support to the lindenwynchotgun sports team. So any kind of donations or anything that come in that, you know, you want that 501c3 tax deduction letter from, we. We send those through the Pride, and then the Pride helps take care of a lot of things for the team. A lot of things. You know, we're going to go to. To San Antonio. Just one thing that the Pride does, and people don't realize how much this kind of stuff cost and how much this matters to a program. You know, Linden was one of the largest shotgun sports programs in the country, bar none, across universities and college. We're all going to San Antonio. With those kids come a lot of parents. You know, I. You guys have been to the complex dinners, not a lot of food Choices and stuff. And it's expensive. It's expensive to eat at Chute. So the Pride will get down there. The day we start, they have a company come in, set up a big commercial tent like you would see for a wedding or a big backyard party. They'll have a tent brought in. They have tables and chairs brought in. It's three sided. It's completely covered. That's a place they rent several camp spots Roger Dillard takes care of. Rent some camp spots for the Pride. They bring that in. That's home base for us when we're there. That's where all the kids gather. That's where everybody meets. But every day, that tent is full of food, of snacks, of drinks, of body armors, of Liquid IVs. They bring in lunch every day, not just for the kids, but for their parents, for everybody that's there supporting Lindenwood and waving that Lindenwood banner. The. The Pride pays for every penny of that. All of it. That's thousands of dollars.
- [52:24]
A
It really is. And, and, and I can tell you it was an ordeal back then because when we went to a shoot with that many folks, the hardest part was like, okay, where do we hang out, right? And if parents didn't come with. With fifth wheels and set up camps and set up tents and set up all these things, you know, there was some instances where we rolled up in a bus and the bus was the deal. So we were all sitting there in the bus, just waiting to go back out. And we'd be from the bus to the line, line of the bus, and that's all we had. Because there, you know, we would. We would roll in and, you know, the clubhouses wouldn't be big enough at some of these small shoots, you know, you wouldn't have any area or, you know, the local teams would be dominating the clubhouse. And you're like going in there with a team three times as big and they're like, yeah, this is our area, you know, so you don't want to, you know, push him out, you know, come to fist fights or anything like that. So we just stay on a little bus, you know, Ricky, I know you used it on your barrels, but do you even know what RGS stands for?
- [53:16]
B
No, Zach, what does it stand for?
- [53:18]
A
Really good.
- [53:19]
B
Well, that is true. It is good stuff, folks. I use it to clean my barrels, and it does make them shine.
- [53:25]
A
Only problem is I wear white T shirts when I clean my barrels and I get them all messy, so I got to be better at that. But it gets all the plastic all the gunk out. Give them a try, folks. They're great.
- [53:33]
B
That's right. Give RGS a try. We appreciate all the support.
- [53:36]
A
Rick, I really think that Gunfit is probably the most important part of shooting big scores. Would you agree with that?
- [53:41]
B
Absolutely. I think Gunfit is the most important thing.
- [53:44]
A
I mean most of the top all Americans are shooting custom stocks. I know when I got my custom stock, my scores went up. I broke 100 straight from the 27 within seven days. I mean, I'm sure your experience has been similar.
- [53:54]
B
Yeah, I've been shooting a custom gun stock for 20 years. Winig, if you want to win Chase Canary chips, get a win of gun stock.
- [54:01]
A
Yeah, call Bobby, call Luke. I mean we got the stock whisperer over there. Bill, give them a shot. They're great and they know what they're doing.
- [54:07]
B
Absolutely. Winning.com. check them out.
- [54:10]
A
You know, Rick, when you're walking down the line, you see smoke ball after smoke ball after smoke ball. What are you thinking in your head?
- [54:15]
B
I'm thinking there's some good set targets and they got to be a white flyer.
- [54:18]
A
They got to be white flyer. I mean we were just a Nevada state shoot. We were shooting these things from the 27 yard line. They look like 6, 16 yards smoke balls. And I'm like, only a white flyer can smoke like that. And we love them. And they've been supporting the show since day one.
- [54:31]
B
That's right. Thanks for all the support.
- [54:32]
A
White flyer, you know, and it was what it was.
- [54:35]
C
But we, we have full blown wood there. I mean we're easy to find and easy to spot. But it, it does give our kids, you know, at any given time, you'll see, you know, a couple squads of men are playing cards or playing some board games or something, just waiting. And we have the three sides to it. So if it's windy, if it's raining, if the sun's blasting on, everybody's got a place.
- [54:52]
B
You're enclose it.
- [54:53]
C
Everybody's got a place to get out of it, to get their mind right, to get their belly full. And the booster club pays for that 100%. The kids don't put a single penny out for that.
- [55:04]
A
And you were right. The pride wasn't around when I was there. It came out a year or two later. And that's why I wanted to clarify that question. And you know, we can have, we can have John put a link somewhere in here for the website and get connected with you guys because I think, you know, you guys have a Great mission. You guys have a great program. 18 national championships, 15 of those consecutive championships, and going on 19. And I mean, there's not a lot of sports teams in the country in anything that have won 18 national championships, much less 15 consecutive national championships. I mean, it was. There was a time where it wasn't even a competition. It wasn't even a. I mean, it was. It was clear, you know, and now I love the fact that there's some competition now, because what that shows is it shows how high Leonard would raise the bar that other people seen what they could get to. And then other teams got funding because they're like, okay, if we got to beat Lennon Wood, we need to come out with a program. We need to do this. We need to do this. We need to do this. So these teams are five to seven years behind, but now look at all the teams and all the programs that are created, all the money that's out there for shooting now because they wanted to beat Lennon Wood. So, you know, I think healthy competition is a good thing. I think it. It creates more opportunity in the long run than it does hurt. And. And it. It's fun to say, okay, we've actually got to work at this.
- [56:35]
C
Yeah.
- [56:36]
A
You know, instead of it just being kind of like, walk up and get your trophies.
- [56:40]
C
The worst thing out there is that give me win when you didn't have to work for it. You know, these kids are. These kids are putting blood, sweat, and tears into this. They're after it. They're hungry for it. You know, Texas A and M, by far our biggest competitor. You know, two years ago, they went down, they tied with Texas A and M. They had to shoot off the. The whole thing. Shoot off for that national title last year. We went in, we got ahead of Texas A and M by five targets at the end. That was pretty good. We. We've lost. We lost some seniors last year. Not worried about it. We got some strong talent in here now, and they're hungry. Man, these Lions are hungry. They're ready to go down there. And, you know, when word spread that they had lost their head coach again, there were a lot of rumblings. A lot of rumblings all over the country, you know. Oh, yeah. Well, okay. There you go. That's going to knock them down. We'll be back. We'll see it. We'll see it.
- [57:30]
A
Yeah, we'll see.
- [57:31]
B
Yep. No, that'll be awesome. I think it's. It's great. I think the kids are going to do well.
- [57:36]
C
We'll.
- [57:37]
B
We'll get them coached up and trapped so they can at least shoot some singles and doubles.
- [57:42]
C
I'll tell you what. With the. With the. So is there is that we have here. If we can't. We knew we got some trouble.
- [57:47]
B
Oh, trust me. And I know a lot of them and I've taught a lot of them also privately. So their parents have, you know, I'm sure. Give me the.
- [57:54]
A
Okay, whatever we gotta do is. Is there anything in. In leaving here, Sherry, that you want to speak and say to the audiences listening today, whether it's your team, future teammates, or just listeners in general?
- [58:08]
C
You know, listeners in general, if you don't follow the collegiate world, check it out sometime. It's incredible what we have. Anybody, really, anybody that's willing to contribute or would like to make any kind of donation. You know, I hear a lot of older people go, oh, man, our sports dying. Well, here's the future. Your sport right here. I got them. I got them right here in house. And they're going to go out and they're going to do great things in this world. I promise you that. You know, to the parents and stuff that have stepped up in support, hang on, because it's going to be a wild ride this spring. Rick, you're included in that, too. You know, you're a parent and you're excited about what's coming your way. To my athletes and kids that are going to watch this, if you're here in my program now, just know that this coach believes in you more than you will ever know. And for those that want to be part of this program, come on, man, get ahold of me. I'm sure my information's all over social media right now, but it's S. RAO Lindenwood Edu. Shoot me a message. The phone call that I hate the most is the kid that calls or the parent that calls says, yeah, my kid's probably really not good enough for your program. There's no such thing. You bring me the heart.
- [59:14]
B
That's right.
- [59:15]
C
You bring me the heart. You bring me the passion. And then scores will come. We'll put them up. So I appreciate you guys giving me the time to get this information out there and to any other kids that are listening before they get here again, never focus so hard on the prize that you forget to enjoy the journey.
- [59:31]
B
That's good. Well, we appreciate it.
- [59:33]
A
Yeah, that journey is everything, and I think you're doing a great job. And Linda woods teams is definitely in good hands with you right now. Sherry. I. I look forward to seeing a lot of success and hopefully in nine plus weeks we can have you guys back on again and talk about the national championship that you won. So, you know, I look forward to that good news and I appreciate you taking the time to educate us and our listeners on what's going on because it was definitely a topic of discussion in the trap shooter community. Definitely something that I was interested in learning more about as a Lindenwood alumni. So we appreciate your time, hard work, your dedication and your love for the children. It definitely shows that you're passionate and that you care. And I think caring and passion is something that's very important from a head coach because you can, you can have, you know, someone that knows how to teach how to shoot, knows how to run books, knows how to book trips. But if you don't care about the team and the kids, kids and the individuals, then you lose them. And if you lose them, it's hard, it's hard to keep something going like that that's got that scale and that size and you know, your heart definitely shows through in this show and I, and I commend you for what you're doing. So really appreciate you everyone listening to the show this Friday. Like, share, subscribe. If you're wearing your Trap Talk hat, Ricky's looking good again with his be. Feel free to send us messages, comment, anything you guys need. And if there's other great folks like Sherry that you want to have on the show, just shoot us an email, let us know. I mean, the biggest barrier in this business is, you know, who do we need to talk to and why and why would they be helpful for the trap shooting community? We are trying to get as much helpful information out to our listeners as humanly possible and be there for you every day. So look forward to seeing you on a trap line very, very soon and, and be safe and have a lot of fun.
- [61:30]
B
Good luck everyone.
- [61:31]
A
Hey folks, if you're wondering where you can get your merch, head on down to shop Trap Talk podcast dot com.
- [61:35]
B
Yes folks, you can get hats, T shirts, sweatshirts, they even have a ladies tank, shooters, towels. We might have some new stuff coming out for the 2026 year. Who knows?
- [61:46]
A
We got all the swag. Head on down to the website. Thank you so much for being Trap Talk supporter.
- [61:50]
B
Thanks everyone.